1967 The Impossible Dream

Carl Yastrzemski's torried late-season hitting lifts the Boston Red Sox above a crowded AL pennant race—but it's the St. Louis Cardinals, led by pitcher Bob Gibson and speedster Lou Brock, who keep Boston from earning its first world title in 50 years.

The Boston Red Sox were having an identity crisis. The fabled franchise that enjoyed a healthy share of American League dominance through its first two decades and later basked in an extended period of popularity off the bat of Ted Williams seemed to lose its sense of purpose.

They couldn’t blame Harry Frazee for this one. Saved 34 years earlier by current owner Tom Yawkey, the Red Sox looked once again in need of redemption. Boston hadn’t enjoyed a winning season since 1958, bottoming out at 100 losses in 1965. The commonly fanatic Red Sox fan base was attending in absentia, with annual attendance shrinking to a mere 650,000 at Fenway Park—a ballpark rumored to be in danger of demolition as plans for a suburban domed facility began to be drawn up.

Worse, it seemed the Red Sox players didn’t care. There was a pervasive lack of urgency in a clubhouse filled with no-namers and has-beens who developed an undisciplined country club attitude. Since Williams’ departure, the only serious threat in the Boston lineup came from his replacement in the outfield, Carl Yastrzemski—an undisputed star in relative terms only. Although Yastrzemski won a batting title in 1963, he otherwise had shown little else to convince Red Sox Nation that he was genuine superstar material.

There did appear to be some light at the end of a very long tunnel. Young sluggers such as Tony Conigliaro, George Scott and Rico Petrocelli were emerging as equals to Yastrzemski. They hired a general manager, Dick O’Connell, who finally made the Red Sox get serious about signing quality black talent, not token benchwarmers to pacify outsiders. And their new skipper was Dick Williams, barely three years removed from the end of his marginal playing days—but connecting as a manager, having taken the Sox’ top farm team in Toronto to successive International League titles.

These moves were all fine and nice for the long-term, but as the Red Sox readied for 1967, pundits believed the status quo was in order. Sports Illustrated picked the Red Sox to finish ninth in the ten-team AL, while Vegas oddsmakers made Boston 100-1 longshots to win the pennant.

Little did anyone realize how swiftly the Red Sox’ long-term goals would be achieved.

Red Sox players filtering their way into spring camp in Florida quickly learned that their laid-back atmosphere was about to be shattered by Dick Williams, who despite his 38 years of age looked gruff and acted the part. It was his way or the Tollway; it didn’t matter if you were a rookie or an All-Star. Even Ted Williams, visiting camp to lend his sage, wasn’t spared; the new manager read the living legend the riot act for disrupting outfielders from doing their daily drills.

Those who came to Florida overweight suffered worse under Williams; he threatened to bench George Scott if he didn’t tip the scales the right way, and when young starter Jerry Stephensen couldn’t shake off ten pounds as Williams ordered, off to the minors he went.

The year that would be best known for the Red Sox as “The Impossible Dream” started out more like yet another nightmare. The team struggled into May in seventh place, and although they felt improved over 1966, such optimism was offset by Williams’ emotionally harsh and icy rule. As if that wasn’t enough, the players fumed—and briefly considered mutiny—when Williams repeatedly ridiculed his players in front of the media.

The Red Sox entered September thick in the hunt for an AL pennant that resembled a total free-for-all. Three other teams joined Boston in a month of musical chairs in which teams often rose from fourth to first in a single day, and vice versa.

On the morning of September 7, all four teams were locked in a first-place tie—and over the season’s final three-plus weeks, they never lost sight of one another. The final weekend arrived with AL officials scratching their heads over the real possibility of a round-robin playoff in the event three teams tied for first.

The White Sox were the first to bow out, in the only way they knew how—by being shutout three straight games, as part of a five-game losing streak to end the year. The Tigers were faced with the rough task of wrapping the season up with consecutive doubleheaders against the Angels, while the Twins and Red Sox squared off against each other at Fenway for their final two games.

The Tigers split on Saturday, while Carl Yastrzemski hit a three-run homer to lift the Red Sox over Minnesota, 6-4. That left Sunday’s matchup at Fenway as a winner-take-all—assuming the Tigers didn’t sweep the Angels.

Though much of the Red Sox players contributed with a series of cardiac-style comeback wins throughout the year, Yastrzemski and Lonborg were the team’s unquestioned valuables. Yastrzemski rose in the clutch, batting over .500 with five home runs in the Sox’ final 12 games—helping to earn him the AL triple crownYastrzemski would be the last player to earn a triple crown for 45 years. with a .326 average, 44 homers and 121 runs batted in. Lonborg, in only his third big league campaign, led the AL with 22 wins (while losing only nine) and 246 strikeouts.

The tense AL race was the only suspense left for the St. Louis Cardinals, wondering whom they’d face in the World Series while breezing to the National League pennant.

Since last winning it all in 1964, the Cardinals transitioned themselves through two average seasons, purging elder power hitters Bill White and Ken Boyer—while picking up a younger one early in 1966 with Orlando Cepeda, the outspoken first baseman who fell out of favor with manager Herman Franks in San Francisco. For 1967, the Cardinals also rescued Roger Maris from his Hell away from home, New York. Even though Maris’ power production was a skeletal resemblance of his Yankees years, he remained a highly skilled player who knew how to win—and, by returning to the heartland close to where he grew up and lived, was now a far happier camper to boot.

Cepeda, the Puerto Rican native who continuously rallied his teammates to the triumphant cry of “El Birdos,” batted .325 with 25 home runs and 111 RBIs to secure the NL Most Valuable Player award. Lou Brock easily had the numbers to make a case for the MVP as well—batting .299 with 32 doubles, 12 triples and 21 home runs, while leading the league with 52 steals and 113 runs scored. On the mound, the staff for which Gibson seemed to tower well above on Opening Day rose to provide an uplifting presence in his absence. Most notable among the upstarts was 29-year-old rookie Dick Hughes, who thrived upon the challenge of taking Gibson’s spot in the rotation and finished the year at 16-6 with a 2.68 ERA.

A competitive and feisty World Series would be dominated by the stars that helped get their teams there: Bob Gibson and Lou Brock for the Cardinals, Jim Lonborg and Carl Yastrzemski for the Red Sox.

The Cardinals got the running start in Game One with a six-hit complete game victory for Gibson, 2-1, as Brock scored both runs in a 4-for-4 performance. Lonborg, with only two days’ rest after winning the regular season finale, got the Sox even in Game Two with spectacular verve, retiring the first 19 batters on his way to a one-hit, 5-0 shutout; backing Lonborg at the plate was Yastrzemski, smashing a pair of homers with four RBIs.

Moving on to St. Louis, the Cardinals won the next two games, with Gibson firing a five-hit shutout in Game Four to put the Red Sox on the edge of elimination. But it was Lonborg nearly matching Gibson’s achievement in a 3-1 Game Five win, his bid for a shutout spoiled only by a too-little, too-late homer by Maris in the ninth.

Lonborg, Yastrzemski and the rest of the Red Sox were the next to be toast, discovering that Gibson was at his best when angry; he allowed just three hits in a complete-game effort, striking out ten and adding a solo home run to the wealthy support of St. Louis offense (aided by Brock’s three steals) to give the Cardinals their second world championship in four years, 7-2.

In the 27 innings that made up Gibson’s three complete-game victories, only three runs and 14 hits were allowed while 26 struck out. Brock was Gibson’s every equal at the plate, going 12-for-32 (.375) with four extra base hits, eight runs, and a Series-record seven steals. In defeat, Yastrzemski amassed ten hits in 25 at-bats (.400) with three homers; the other Red Sox players collectively hit just .193. Lonborg, after winning his first two starts, was asked too much in his third, pitching for the second time on two days’ rest while facing off against Gibson.

The Cardinals’ return to baseball dominance was, in historic terms, overshadowed by the impressive Red Sox revival—one that would ignite the team to above-.500 campaigns over each of its next 15 years. After suffering a miserable stretch in the doldrums, one impossible dream had been achieved for the Boston Red Sox.

The dream, however, of winning the World Series—something the Red Sox had not done since 1918—would itself seem to remain an impossibility.

Forward to 1968:Year of the Pitcher Batting averages plummet as major league pitchers dominate the game of baseball as never before.

Back to 1966:Wish You Were Here, Mr. DeWitt Frank Robinson dominates the American League for the Baltimore Orioles—and proves to his former employers in Cincinnati that he's not an Old Thirty.

The 1960s Page:Welcome to My Strike Zone In a decade where baseball as a tradition is turning stale with America's emerging counter-culturism, major league owners see its biggest problem to be, of all things, an overabundance of offense in the game. The result? An increased strike zone, further contributing to a downward spiral in attendance, but greatly aiding an already talented batch of pitchers.

A Rohring DebutBoston Red Sox pitcher Billy Rohr, making his first-ever appearance on a major league mound, is one strike away from a no-hitter at New York against the Yankees on April 14; Elston Howard then breaks it up with a single. Rohr completes the game with a one-hit shutout, 3-0. Howard is rewarded by Yankees fans with a chorus of boos; later in the year he’ll be traded to the Red Sox. Meanwhile, Rohr’s star will fall as fast as it rose. He’ll win only two more games in a career that ends a year later in Cleveland.

Menace 2 BaseballIt’s a rough year to be a spin-mastering spokesman for mercurial Kansas City A’s owner Charles Finley—that is, if there’s one that the low-budget Finley is willing to pay. As his team tumbles toward yet another 100 losses, Finley alienates his players into near-mutiny for dismissing first baseman Ken Harrelson and suspending pitcher Lew Krausse for “misconduct” violations; alienates manager Al Dark for backing the players and not him; alienates the National Labor Relations Board, which subpoenas Finley to explain the Krausse suspension; and alienates the State of Missouri, which he angers at year’s end by moving the A’s to Oakland.

Finley is labeled a “menace to baseball” by Harrelson, and “one of the most disreputable characters ever to enter the American sports scene” by Missouri U.S. Senator Stuart Symington, who fought hard to keep the team in Kansas City.

Now That’s ExpansionMajor league owners approve a second wave of expansion this decade, and the cities they pick stretch the map of the major leagues to the corners of the Continental United States—and beyond. The National League chooses San Diego and Montreal—which officially makes the majors international—while the American League goes with Seattle and Kansas City, the latter a replacement franchise for the Oakland-bound A’s. Missouri politicians, steamed over the A’s departure, pressure baseball to have the teams begin play in 1969, instead of 1971—much to the displeasure of NL owners, who were never wild about more expansion to begin with.

Cy by Cy HonorsTwo Cy Young Awards, one for each league, are given out for the first time after a single award had been handed out through its first 11 years of existence. Jim Lonborg wins the AL vote, while the NL bestows its honors on Mike McCormick of the San Francisco Giants.

The Perfect FloodOutfielder Curt Flood, who went the entire 1966 season without making an error for the Cardinals, finally errs when he muffs a fly ball on June 4 against the Chicago Cubs at St. Louis. His errorless streak at the position had lasted 227 games, a major league record soon to be broken by Don Demeter and later, in 1993, by Darren Lewis.

Two More for the 500 ClubMickey Mantle and Eddie Mathews become the sixth and seventh players to hit 500 career home runs. Mantle reaches 500 on May 14 against the Baltimore Orioles, while Mathews—now playing for the Houston Astros after 15 years with the Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves—collects his on July 14 against the Giants at San Francisco.

Invasion of the Unorthodox No-Hitters, Part IBaltimore pitcher Steve Barber takes a no-hitter and 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth at Detroit on April 30—and loses both, walking his ninth and tenth batters of the game and, with two outs, throwing a wild pitch to allow one Tiger runner to score. After Stu Miller replaces Barber, a Mark Belanger error at shortstop scores the game-winner. It’s only the second no-hitter in history that ends in a loss, and the second that involves two pitchers.

Invasion of the Unorthodox No-Hitters, Part IIDean Chance of the Minnesota Twins also has an imperfect no-hitter, as he allows a first-inning Cleveland run with two walks, an error and a wild pitch. He only walks three more the rest of the way to earn a 2-1 no-hit win on August 25. Less than three weeks earlier, Chance had retired all 15 batters in a rain-shortened, five-inning 2-0 win over the Red Sox. Baseball later votes not to recognize any no-hitter or perfect game thrown in less than eight innings.

Cub SoldierChicago Cubs pitcher Ken Holtzman is 9-0 after 12 starts in what will be his second full season…well, not exactly. In late May, he reports to the Army, and for the next six months he’ll be allowed to pitch for the Cubs on weekends only.

Dust Off the Infield Tarp ManualFor the first time since moving to Los Angeles a decade earlier, the Dodgers are rained out at home on April 21. It will be another nine years before the rain keeps the Dodgers from playing at Chavez Ravine.

Around the Horn’dThe Orioles’ Brooks Robinson, who’s best known for erasing runners with his spectacular defense at third base, sets a major league mark for a different kind of base-cleaning: He hits into his fourth career triple play, August 6 against the Chicago White Sox.

No More StallingNew rule: Teams are now required to remove their pitcher when either a manager or coach makes a second trip to the mound in one inning.

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